MARRIAGE is one of the foremost narrative elements of The Faerie Queene. It recurs as a focal point in every book of the poem, and nearly every episode invokes a marriage promised, performed, or betrayed. The study of marriage themes in Spenser's poetry is almost equally copious, but to date has, curiously, avoided addressing the broader political overtones of this emphasis in Spenser's work. Attention to the poet's use of legal language suggests that marriage figures in The Faerie Queene as only one manifestation – though an important one – of a more general preoccupation with social bonds and contract. Spenser's interest in contract appears throughout the poem at the inceptions of marriages, friendships, partnerships, and patron–servant relationships, but it is the particular focus of the middle books of The Faerie Queene: Of Chastity and Of Friendship.